outage
Americannoun
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an interruption or failure in the supply of power, especially electricity.
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the period during which power is lost.
a two-hour outage on the East Coast.
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a stoppage in the functioning of a machine or mechanism due to a failure in the supply of power or electricity.
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the quantity of goods lost or lacking from a shipment.
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Aeronautics. the amount of fuel used during a flight.
noun
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a quantity of goods missing or lost after storage or shipment
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a period of power failure, machine stoppage, etc
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of outage
Explanation
An outage is a sudden interruption in a service. An internet outage means you'll have to wait to watch your favorite show online. You may experience a power outage during a hurricane or snowstorm, when you can’t flip on the lights or use the microwave until crews repair the electrical lines. A computer network or server outage can have many causes (sometimes these are scheduled breaks in service, allowing maintenance to be done). Outages can be annoying and inconvenient, or even dangerous. The American coinage outage, first used in 1903, was modeled on shortage.
Vocabulary lists containing outage
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for April 24–April 30, 2021
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for October 2–October 8, 2021
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 9–February 15, 2025
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The record-breaking heatwave left around 68,000 households without electricity in northwestern France on Wednesday, the authorities said, in the country's first major power outage of the latest bout of extreme weather.
From Barron's • Jun. 24, 2026
It would take weeks longer to input all the new information recorded on paper during the outage.
From BBC • Jun. 22, 2026
Downdetector, a outage tracking site, showed a surge in problem reports for Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp beginning just before 9:30 a.m.
From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026
The safety concern is that, during an outage, this auxiliary electricity source could endanger electricians or utility workers.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
I explained that the phone had accidentally dropped onto the kitchen floor while I’d been talking to Thomas, but left out the part about the exploding grapes causing a power outage.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
